ADOLF Hitler desperately tried to stop 'undignified' pictures of him in an early Nazi Party propaganda book from ever being seen again. And succeeded. Until now...

Hitler banned publication of this image from an early Nazi propaganda book

IN THE rubble of a house in bomb-blasted Germany a British soldier stooped to pick up a tattered, coverless book.

It had been damaged by water but, sensing it would make a good souvenir to show the folks back home, he tucked it into his canvas satchel.

The year was 1945. Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in his Berlin bunker and the evil maniac's dreams of a 1,000-year Reich were as crushed as his cities which Allied soldiers now patrolled.

One of these, Alf Robinson, a private in the Pioneer Corps, found the book and added it to his Nazi relics which included a bayonet and a Luger pistol. The book was the least impressive of them and, written in German, it remained unread by his family in Barnsley, Yorkshire.

Now, 70 years later, it is about to be republished and, translated into English, provides a unique insight into Nazi propaganda.

Deutschland Erwache

Adolf Hitler despised this 'undignified' picture of him in short trousers

National Archives

Hitler despised images of him in shorts which showed his bare legs

Aimed at younger readers, the official Nazi party publication is more like a fan magazine - yet this "fanzine" now makes Hitler seem more like a twit than a tyrant.

Deutschland Erwache (Germany Awaken) was written in the 1930s by Baldur von Schirach, one of Hitler's early henchmen.

He wrote: "We who have had the privilege of being able to work with him have come to worship and love him."

Describing the dictator as "honest, steadfast and modest" and displaying "strength and kindness", von Schirach said Hitler's "grandeur and deepest humanity takes the breath away from those who meet him for the first time".

Among the most comical images in the book are those of Hitler posing in short trousers.

Hitler later decided that such photographs were deeply undignified and humiliating, banning further publication.

Deutschland Erwache

Hitler grinning inanely in another picture he tried to ban

Hitler decided the photographs in the book were undignified and banned further publication

Other images show Hitler meeting German people, children, workers and his own staff, with the book's captions gushing: "How their eyes light up when the Führer is close to them!"

And: "Nobody in Germany was so loved by the German worker. This love breaks out of them spontaneously when they see him. They all look on him as their rescuer and thank him with shining eyes.

"The youth love him. Children try to get close to him everywhere so that they can give him flowers."

Indeed, according to von Schirach, Hitler was universally loved - and not only by humans: "The Führer has a breed of the most beautiful alsatians in his house in the mountains. He loves them almost as much as they do him," he wrote.

Deutschland Erwache

The Nazi propaganda book claims children's eyes 'light up when the Führer is close'

The author was 18 when he met Hitler in Munich in 1925 but quickly moved up the National Socialist ranks through his leadership of the Nazi students association.

In 1932 he married the daughter of Hitler's favourite photographer Heinrich Hoffmann and used his images in the propaganda he produced as Reich youth leader in charge of "extra education".

Voluntary service earned him the Iron Cross but, after directing the deportation of Jews from Vienna, he appeared to have a change of heart and demanded better treatment for eastern Europeans. After his wife also criticised the deportations he fell from favour.

Von Schirach survived the war but in 1945 he was sentenced at Nuremberg to 20 years in Spandau prison in Berlin. He died in 1974.

Alamy

A young Hitler during his days as a Lance Corporal in the German Army

Deutschland Erwache

Hitler banned this picture of his 'steely glare' fearing it made him look stupid

His forgotten book was passed down through Private Robinson's family until it came to his nephew Bernard Robinson, a retired fitter, now aged 73. Last year he showed it to military history experts at Pen & Sword Books who are publishing it, with the original illustrations and some replacement photos, under the title The Rise Of Hitler.

"It's a fascinating piece of history," says editor Ron Wilkinson.

"It shows exactly how the Nazi propaganda machine worked on impressionable young minds. Most people have since wondered how an entire nation could have been taken in by such an awful outfit as the National Socialist Party.

"This sycophantic document of the day gives us a clue as to how even an extraordinarily wicked person can be made to look saintly."